"I have never ranched for the money; it pays more grit than dollars. It is more for the feeling of a rain after a year-long drought, standing in the mud where the pasture was, laughing so loud and hard they could hear me in town. More for the pride of saving a newborn calf's life that even the vet said would not suckle. More for the huge knot that ties in my stomach when walking up to the seller's window at an auction barn. The knowing that the barbed wire scars will fade,

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Farmer's Tribute

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Monday, May 3, 2010

Going Home Again

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and

you're a thousand miles from a corn field."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

About a week or so ago, I had the opportunity of spending the afternoon with a feedlot consultant from Australia. He grew up there and began his secondary education there as well, but to earn his Ph.D. he came to the states and attended a school in west Texas. Just hearing his story and listening to what he had to say got my brain running in overdrive...

Can we ever really go home again?

West Texas offers countless opportunities for feedlot consultation... After all, it's the heart of the feedlot industry in America. And although he could've stayed in the states and pursued his career in the beef industry, he went home.

It's been a lifelong battle for me - to stay or to go. I absolutely love where I grew up and if I could, I would move back tomorrow. But unfortunately where I grew up in the country, while hundreds of small farms and animal agriculture is prevalent, not many make their living in agriculture. I have always wanted to move back home, but I just don't know if that will be possible while in the line of work that I want to do...

It's a shame that this is an issue faced by young agriculturalists everyday. Stay on the family farm or leave. Simple as that. Tough as that. And while we know that it is up to our generation to preserve the heritage of American agriculture, it is next to impossible to make a living on a small family farm...

I guess until I get my life together and I find which road my heart wants to take in life, I'll continue to vacation in the small western Maryland town I call my home, on that beautiful mountain farm I call my life.